Up to 600K
Units/year
Designing a Future-Proof Drone Factory Through Modular Factory Planning
EFESO designed a modular factory layout by structuring all production, logistics, assembly, testing, and support functions within a single hall, enabling clear material flows, scalable capacity, efficient space utilization, and a future-proof setup for multi-drone manufacturing.
Aerospace & Defense
Digital & Ai
Factory Planning
Industrial Strategy, Operating Model & Transformation
Manufacturing
Operations Strategy and Transformation
Our Client
European aerospace company, focused on the development of advanced unmanned aerial systems and autonomous flight technologies for defence and civil applications. Operating across multiple European locations, the company designs high-performance UAV platforms, propulsion solutions, and digital flight systems, supporting rapid innovation and scalable industrialization in the aerospace and defence sector.
Multi-platform
UAV portfolio: FPV, loitering munition, short-range, and cruise systems
The Challenge
The client faced the challenge of industrializing a rapidly expanding portfolio of unmanned aerial systems, ranging from FPV drones to cruise missiles and loitering munitions. Market dynamics, geopolitical developments, and short product life cycles required a production setup that could scale quickly while remaining adaptable to changing technologies and volumes.
Traditional factory layouts and rigid production lines were not suitable for the required flexibility. The client needed a manufacturing concept capable of accommodating multiple drone types on shared infrastructure, without compromising efficiency, quality, or regulatory compliance. At the same time, investment efficiency and realization speed were critical, with expectations for fast ramp-up in both brownfield and greenfield scenarios.
Additional complexity arose from the need to integrate advanced composites, electronics, propulsion, assembly, testing, and logistics within a compact footprint, while enabling automation, digital transparency, and future extensions. Ensuring seamless material flow, minimizing transport distances, and maintaining operational visibility across parallel production lines were essential requirements.
The overarching challenge was to design a state-of-the-art factory concept that balanced universality, modularity, scalability, and mobility—allowing the client to respond rapidly to demand fluctuations, introduce new products efficiently, and maintain long-term industrial resilience.
Real Results Achieved Together
The developed factory concept consolidates production, logistics, assembly, testing, and support functions within a single, modular hall, enabling clear one-directional material flow and efficient space utilization.
The layout supports parallel production lines for multiple drone platforms, integrates scalable storage and automation solutions, and allows phased capacity ramp-up. The concept is deployable in both brownfield and greenfield environments, ensuring rapid industrialization while maintaining long-term flexibility.
~10K m²
Optimized factory footprint
Up to ~600K
units/year production capacity (FPV drones)
€98M
CapEx for full-scale greenfield realization
Transformation Impact
- Modular factory layout enabling parallel production lines and rapid scalability
- Compatibility of multiple drone types on shared infrastructure
- Optimized material flow through L-shaped value stream design
- Reduced realization time through standardized, deployable factory modules
- Integrated digital backbone for real-time monitoring and production transparency
Our Approach
EFESO applied a systematic factory planning and industrial strategy approach to design a future-ready drone manufacturing concept. The project began with defining key flexibility enablers – compatibility, universality, modularity, scalability, and mobility – ensuring the factory could adapt to changing product and volume requirements.
Based on production forecasts and portfolio diversity, EFESO developed a modular line architecture covering composites, electronics, propulsion, assembly, testing, and logistics. The factory layout was optimized using an L-shaped value stream, combining the efficiency of linear flows with spatial flexibility and minimized transport distances.
A digital backbone architecture was embedded from the outset, connecting production equipment, logistics systems, and central control functions to enable real-time visibility and data-driven decision-making. Automation, cobots, AMRs, and scalable storage solutions were integrated to support both high-volume and low-volume production scenarios.
The result is a deployable factory concept suitable for both brownfield and greenfield environments, balancing speed of implementation, operational efficiency, and long-term scalability.
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Facing Similar Aerospace Manufacturing Challenges?
- Need to rapidly scale defence or drone production capacity
- Looking to design a flexible, future-proof factory for multiple product types
- Seeking to optimize CAPEX while ensuring industrial resilience and speed to market
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